Retirement Planning

Don’t Plan on Retirement…

Americans are also not prepared to deal with the financial aspects of their lives as they grow older, and they are certainly not prepared for the time when active employment ends and retirement begins. The most important questions have yet to be answered: how will you function? How much money will you need? What will happen when your savings run dry and your needs are unattainable? If you still have a family can you afford to send them to college, dress them well and get the best medical care when you need it? Just the cost of keeping up the house and paying the bills, especially credit card debt prevents most families from saving for their future.

Yet many people are planning on early retirement. In just three generations, the American standard of living has risen so high that the average worker has been able to retire at age 62. The problem is that within the next two decades 76 million baby boomers will begin to retire. It’s going to be next to impossible for the economy to support that many non-working people. To add fuel to the fire, people are living longer than ever before. Many people are planning to work during retirement, but working at what you love and being happy might be more difficult than you think. Maybe it’s time for you to start planning for a life that means getting paid while having the time to enjoy life as you age.

According to recent statistics, it takes over $1.5 million to retire. Butit is next to impossible to save your way into any kind of real wealth. I define wealth as having enough money to buy what you want AND save for your retirement at the same time. The little bit of money most people can save is invested in a mutual fund or the stock market. Unfortunately, the stock market is volatile and savings can be lost.

Even if you did save the money, is it going to be enough for travel? To bail you out of the ruins of Social Security? Of our failing senior healthcare system? Maybe you’ve thought about what your dream retirement will look like. But here’s what you really need to consider:

Let’s say you need $100,000 for basic living expenses. Social Security and investment dividends have to fill that need. If you’re currently ready to retire, you would need $1.4 million to draw down 5 percent a year while protecting your principal. But don’t you want to have another $10,000 a year for the rewards you deserve after a long career? Maybe buy that collector Mustang, new condo on the waterfront, or a trip to Europe? Add it up and you need another $25,000 a year or more. Before you reach for your anti-stress smelling salts, relax. Truth is: you’ve got more options at your disposal than ever to pull it all off.

Work less, live more. There’s a four-part strategy for insuring your financial goals.

Tap your brain by cutting costs when times are financially tough and spending it when you can see a good opportunity.

Chances are you’re going to have to have a strategy to survive.

The Solution – Invest in Your Own Business

Your best solution is to not only own your own business, but to invest in it with time, with money, with structures and with successful systems to build a proven business model.

Business ownership can be the most profitable of all – the single best way to build wealth is to own your own business; especially one that can be systematically expanded or sold.

Fact: Over 67 percent of ALL millionaires

in the U.S. are self-employed

Owning your own successful business model means discovering a good niche market opportunity. The process requires you, the owner, to pursue and document all the functions, actions, standards and reports to achieve your strategic goals. Your goal: happy customers, employees and investors.

Why You Should Own and Grow a Business as an Investment

Owning and growing a business is a proactive solution. When are you going to make a move to help yourself? Do you normally wait until you’re sick to go to the doctor? This is another case of preventative medicine, but it’s your company that needs the shot in the arm.

People that own a growing business have the ability to earn more and pay less of what they earn in taxes. This can be accomplished by maximizing other benefits such as insurance, cars, gas and other paid expenses. Benefits such as these can add up to $25,000 or even $50,000 a year. In addition to an above average take-home total pay, owners can grow the value of their business; allowing them to sell it one day and gain significant wealth in the process.

Growing your business means investing in it in both cash and services. It may mean hiring another staff member, or purchasing equipment upgrades. If you invest $50,000 in a business and one year later you receive back that $50,000 investment; that equals a 100 percent return. Achieving a 100 percent return on your investment in one year is pretty much impossible through any other conventionally used investment method. But a small business can easily return 100 percent. The best part about this is that it can do it year after year … indefinitely.

Figuring on Success

A well-run business with yearly sales of $1 million - $10 million can sell for four times its earnings or more; with the added benefit of the sale generated with pretax dollars.

If you own a business with revenues of $3 million a year, you should be earning a salary of $100,000 - $200,000, receiving perks of $20,000 - $50,000 and be earning a pretax profit of $250,000 each year.